I spent April 27–29 at the One America Movement Summit, gathered with faith leaders and peacebuilders from across traditions—pastors and rabbis, imams and organizers, each carrying, in their own way, the quiet and often invisible burden of holding communities together in a time when so much feels like it is coming apart.

It was a powerful, hopeful and energizing experience.

I was there representing Waymakers, as well as the interfaith leadership work I do through Utah State University and the Heravi Peace Institute. The summit is a convergence of those worlds—academic, practical, spiritual—all meeting in the shared recognition that how we engage conflict is becoming one of the defining questions of our time.

There was a particular kind of gravity to the space. You could feel how much is at stake in this moment—how deeply political division has seeped into the relational and spiritual fabric of congregational life. You could also feel an almost defiant hope that, together, we could do something about the rising tide of contempt and polarization that America has succumbed to.

Part of that hope is embodied in the work of the One America Movement itself. At a time when religion is often seen as a driver of division, they are doing the difficult, patient work of helping faith communities become sites of bridge-building rather than fracture. Their model—bringing together leaders across theological and political differences, equipping them with tools for dialogue, and fostering sustained relationships rather than one-off conversations—is not flashy, but it is deeply consequential. They were an important partner for Waymakers when we put together our Where Peace Begins videos and our first REPAIR conference.

I left with a deep sense of gratitude for their leadership and a renewed conviction that what they are building matters—not just for individual congregations, but for the broader civic and moral fabric of the country.

The Sacred Iceberg

I was invited to offer a 75-minute workshop on Transformative Mediation for Faith Leaders: Navigating Political Polarization in Congregations.

One of the core ideas I shared—and that was echoed throughout the summit—is this: The greatest challenge facing faith communities right now isn’t disagreement. It’s how we hold each other through disagreement.

Much of our public discourse is stuck in what I call debate mode. We correct. Defend. Try to convince, convert and win the conversation. There is a slew of religious actors on social media attempting this now. It attracts followers and gets content creators pats on the back when they say something the listener agrees with.

But in deeply polarized environments—especially in religious communities—this approach often backfires. It hardens positions, escalates mistrust, and fractures relationships.

Transformative mediation invites a different posture:

Empowerment: Helping people clarify what they think, feel, and need
Recognition: Helping people feel seen—and see the humanity in others

It shifts the goal from solving a problem to changing the interaction itself. One of the most important tools we explored in the workshop is what I call the Sacred Iceberg.

Most conflicts operate at the surface—where we see positions, opinions, and arguments. But that’s only the tip. Beneath the surface lies a much deeper structure:

• Interests (what I want)

• Values (what matters to me)

• Worldviews (how I understand reality)

• Identity (who I am)

• Needs (what I must have to feel safe, seen, and whole)

In faith communities, this iceberg becomes even more sacred. Because what’s underneath isn’t just preference—it’s meaning, belonging, and often a person’s relationship to God. So when someone argues about politics in a congregation, they may not just be defending a policy position.

They may be protecting their sense of moral integrity or their understanding of truth or their place in the community or their connection to the sacred. Sometimes it’s all of these thing.

This is why surface-level solutions and the debate style of communication often fail. You can’t resolve a sacred conflict with shallow tools. When we work with the Sacred Iceberg, the goal is not to argue better. It’s to listen deeper with curosity.

Some of the most powerful questions we practiced were incredibly simple:

• “What are you feeling right now as you think about this?”

• “What feels most important to you underneath this?”

• “What are you worried about losing?”

• “What do you need to feel seen, heard, and safe?”

These questions don’t move us toward agreement. They move us toward understanding And understanding is often the first step toward transformation.

One of the most meaningful threads running through the summit was a shared recognition across traditions: Conflict, when held well, can be sacred. Not because it’s easy or comfortable. But because it reveals what matters most.

In that sense, the work of a faith leader in conflict is not unlike the work of a pastor, rabbi, or imam in any sacred moment:

To help people stay present.
To help them see each other.
To help them not run away from the conflict or relationship.
To help them navigate both boundaries (for what I need respected) and bridges (for what I can offer another).

Healthy conflict requires all of this.

When we’re not present, we miss what matters.
When we don’t truly see each other, we flatten and judge.
When we turn away or cut off, connection breaks.
Too many boundaries, and we isolate.
Too many bridges, and we lose ourselves.

The work is to hold all of these core concepts—compassionately. There was a moment in the workshop when this shift became palpable.

We were doing role-plays and having participants discuss a tension they are holding in their own congregations and lives. Participants moved from analyzing conflict at a distance to recognizing themselves within it. The abstractions gave way to particular relationships, specific conversations, the names and faces of people they care about. The room softened. There were tears, epiphanies and a renewed desire to do the sacred work of REPAIR.

Toward More Christ-like Peacebuilding

Toward the end of the summit, I found myself in a smaller, more intimate gathering—a roundtable with a number of Latter-day Saint interfaith peacemakers who are doing thoughtful and important work in this space. I got to sit with Jennifer Walker Thomas, co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, alongside The Wheatley Institute’s Paul Lambert and Elder Andrew Child, who serves as an Area Authority in the Chicago region. We were also joined by Zach Davis Executive Director of Faith Matters, along with local leaders deeply engaged in interfaith and diplomatic work, including R. Bruce Duffield and Stephen and Pamela Caine.

The conversation was candid and searching. We spoke about the future of Latter-day Saint peacebuilding—about the theological and cultural resources within the tradition, the growing networks of interfaith engagement, and the responsibility to contribute meaningfully to a world increasingly defined by difference and division. There was no illusion that the path forward will be simple, but there was a shared recognition that the work is necessary, and that it is already, in many ways, underway.

As I left the summit, what lingered was not a set of conclusions but a kind of orientation. A reminder that the work before us is less about eliminating conflict than about transforming the way we meet one another within it. That even in a time marked by polarization and mistrust, there remains a quiet but persistent possibility for connection—one that depends, in no small part, on our willingness to listen more deeply, to remain present a little longer, and to trust that something sacred can still emerge in the space between us.

More Faith Leader Mediation Training

This Fall we are going to pilot our first 20 hour faith leader transformative mediation training in SLC. If you are interested or know someone who is, please contact Chad Ford over at chadford.substack.com

We hope you continue to join us as we explore the intersections between faith, conflict and peace and continue to engage the skills and character of Christian peace builders.

Peace Picnic

Come join Chad Ford and Patrick Mason of Waymakers, Casey McFarland of Pioneering Paradoxes and the folks at That’s Church for a Peace Picnic at Von Baer Park in Providence, Utah on Saturday May 9 from 5 to 8 pm.

We will have a potluck, some games and a cool, interactive discussion between Chad, Casey and Patrick on Chad’s book: Seventy Times Seven: Jesus’ Path to Conflict Transformation.

We’d love to see you there.

REPAIR coming to Washington DC

Our REPAIR conference is coming to Washington DC for a half day event on Saturday, September 19th for a half day event. Patrick Mason, Chad Ford, Thomas Griffith and others will be speaking and doing workshops. More details are coming. But mark you calendars now!

Come join Chad Ford and Patrick Mason of Waymakers, Casey McFarland of Pioneering Paradoxes and the folks at That’s Church for a Peace Picnic at Von Baer Park in Providence, Utah on Saturday May 9 from 5 to 8 pm.

We will have a potluck, some games and a cool, interactive discussion between Chad, Casey and Patrick on Chad’s book: Seventy Times Seven: Jesus’ Path to Conflict Transformation.

We’d love to see you there.

REPAIR coming to Washington DC

Our REPAIR conference is coming to Washington DC for a half day event on Saturday, September 19th for a half day event. Patrick Mason, Chad Ford, Thomas Griffith and others will be speaking and doing workshops. More details are coming. But mark you calendars now!

Podcasts!!!

Chad just did an entire podcast on his research and the topic of the tensions between the Second Coming and Peacebuilding with Pioneering Paradoxes! Dig into eschatology, the second coming, and Jesus at the end of the world.

You can listen to it on Spotify …

Or on Apple Podcasts

Patrick and Jennifer Walker Thomas continue the second season of the Proclaim Peace Podcast focusing on peacemaking in the Old Testament.

The last two episodes were fantastic:

Embracing Diversity and Building Peace: Lessons from the Tower of Babel w/ Daryl Davis

Joseph’s Story from Pride to Compassion: Breaking Generational Cycles w/ Rabbi Sam Spector

Articles over at the Waymaker

Chad Ford has been writing a lot lately about the intersection of peacemaking and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you are interested, here are some of the topics he’s tackled the past few months.

Dangerous World. Dangerous Jesus. Dangerous Love: The Second Coming and Finding Jesus at the End of the World

Blessed are the Lions: A story about raising, working with and loving women peacebuilders

The Tears of Hope: In a time of outrage, here’s to tears of hope, repair, and love

We’ve Got Some Difficult Days Ahead: Following “the Way” in an Age of Protest, Power, and Fear

Over the past few days I’ve been reflecting on the beautiful gathering we shared at Interfaith REPAIR.

I want to begin with a simple word: thank you.

Thank you to the participants who came with open hearts.

Thank you to the workshop facilitators — Sam Akers, Rabbi Spector, Wendy Ulrich, David Whippy, James Patton, Pastor Jamie White and Dave White and Ravi Gupta and family — who offered their wisdom, practices, and traditions.

Thank you to Katie Searle, Jamie White and all of our volunteers for doing such a superb job organizing everything behind the scenes.

Together we created something sacred.

During the gathering I shared a story that has shaped how I understand peace. I want to share that story here.

Hearts of Stone and Flesh

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
— Ezekiel 36:26

A number of years ago, I brought nine peacebuilding students with me on a field trip to Jerusalem. We visited sacred sites and like the Western Wall, or Ha-Kotel-ha-Maaravi, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Al-aqsa Mosque and met with amazing people on all sides of the conflict.

I had often felt deeply connected to God at each of these places. My students and I pondered what it meant as we visited other sacred sites and some of them shared profound spiritual experiences

On our last day in Jerusalem we planned to go to the Dead Sea for a day of fun. One the morning of the trip, a man named Mohammad called.

His family had a small olive orchard, and the olives needed to be harvested and pressed into oil. I had nine young, able students. Would we spend the day with his family picking olives?

I rounded up our students and explained that we were taking a di!erent sort of field trip to this small Palestinian village. Many of the students were nervous. Inundated with negative images of Palestinians and Arabs for much of their lives, some were anxious about this excursion. We said a prayer and went to help despite their fears.

Mohammad greeted us warmly and put us to work. We spread tarps beneath the trees, climbed branches, and stripped olives from the limbs.

Around midday some of the Palestinians began singing childhood songs. After they sang, our students spontaneously broke into silly Primary songs they learned as children at church. They sang “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.” Soon, the chorus of Palestinian-Primary songs resounded through the olive grove.

Two worlds singing together in an orchard.

As the sun set, the family set up a long table outside the house and brought food.

Mohammad sat at one end of the table and invited me to sit at the other. My students and his family sat between us. Before we ate, Mohammad stood to make a speech.Before we ate, Mohammad stood to speak.

“I want to thank you for taking your whole day to help my family,” he began.

“I know you have many misconceptions about our people. I see what your television and newspapers say about us. I know many Americans hate us. I hope you have seen today that we are good people. We are a family-oriented people. We would rather pick olives than make war. I hope your views of us have changed today.”

The heads of my students silently nodded. Some had tears in their eyes (mine included). Some tears came from love, others from shame for the fear they had previously felt. The speech wasn’t over.

“I want you to know that my view has changed too. I don’t like Americans much. I don’t know Mormons very well, but I don’t think I liked them either. I see Americans as spoiled and selfish. You are always putting yourselves first. But here you were, helping a family you didn’t know, working hard, getting your hands dirty, and working side-by-side with my family. Perhaps I have misjudged you, too. Perhaps we aren’t as di!erent as I have believed.”

Then he asked if I would offer the prayer for the meal.

I hesitated.

“Mohammad,” I said, “would you be offended if I prayed the way my family and faith community pray?”

He smiled.

“Of course not. I would expect you to pray the way you know.”

I asked one more favor.

“Would you be offended if we held hands while we pray? It’s a tradition in my family.”

Again he smiled and nodded.

So we all joined hands around the table.

As I bowed my head, I suddenly felt a powerful spiritual presence—so strong that I could barely speak.

Then I heard a voice saying simply, “I am here.”

I don’t recall the exact words I prayed, but I will never forget the message. God is present whenever God’s children were joined together in heart and purpose, trying to understand each other and make peace.

As I finished the prayer, I looked up. Tears were now flowing down all our cheeks. We spent the next few hours eating, sharing stories, and connecting in ways we didn’t believe were possible.

Our hearts changed as we saw each other through new eyes. Our stereotypes dissolved. We embraced people we once perceived as our enemies. This embrace opened space for them to see us with new eyes.

That night we ate together, shared stories, and embraced people we had once seen as strangers—even enemies.

And our hearts changed.

The Fleshy Heart of Interfaith REPAIR

That story came to mind many times during Interfaith REPAIR.

In workshop after workshop we saw traditions share practices of healing, repentance, reconciliation, compassion, and repair.

Different languages.
Different rituals.
Different sacred stories.

Yet something deeply familiar beneath them all.

Moments where hearts softened. People listened more deeply. We felt something sacred in the room.

In our own ways and through our own traditions, we felt the presence of God.

Thank you to everyone who helped create those moments.

The work of repair is never finished.

But gatherings like this remind me of a truth I learned long ago in an olive grove outside Jerusalem:

Whenever people come together with humility, mercy, and courage to understand each other— God is there.

Can’t wait to gather again with so many peacemakers at our next Waymakers event.

What Do We Do With All This Fracture?

I’ve been sitting with this question a lot lately.

I’ve been writing about tears and hopelessness. The fear that peacemaking is naive. The difficult challenges of balancing outrage and peacemaking.

These concerns aren’t abstract thoughts or philosophical inquiries. They’re rooted the very ordinary, very human places where fracture shows up: a conversation that goes sideways at dinner, a relationship that feels brittle, a community that no longer knows how to disagree without breaking something precious.

Across my life—as a mediator, a teacher, a person of faith—I’ve noticed something quietly hopeful: when things fall apart, people almost always go looking for tools of repair. They aren’t looking for them to “win,” nor to dominate, but to stay connected to communities that are meaningful to them. To remain in relationship and find a way forward that doesn’t require erasing difference or ourselves.

And here’s the thing we often forget: our faith traditions—all of them—have been carrying these tools for centuries. Long before conflict resolution was a field. Before mindfulness was a buzzword. Before we had language for trauma, polarization, or deconstruction. Faith traditions were teaching us how to navigate conflict.

They’ve been there all along. In stories. In rituals. In practices passed down by people who knew what it meant to live through rupture—and still choose connection.

That’s the heart behind our gathering of peacemakers at Interfaith REPAIR on Friday March 6th.

This isn’t a gathering where you sit and take notes, debate about whose theology is right, nor a space that requires you to believe anything in particular. It’s a day set aside to practice something many of us are aching for: learning across difference—with curiosity, humility, and courage.

One of my favorite moments from past gatherings like this is watching people intentionally step into a workshop outside their own tradition. Someone raised Christian learning from a rabbi about sacred disagreement. A secular activist discovering Buddhist practices of compassion. A lifelong believer sitting with doubt—not as a failure, but as a teacher.

What happens in those rooms is rarely flashy. It’s quieter than that. But it’s real. People soften. They listen differently. They leave with language and practices they can actually use—at home, at work, in the places where conflict isn’t theoretical but deeply personal.

And maybe more importantly we do the one thing polarization invites us not to do: we gather, intentionally across difference, and lean into that difference, not away from it. In a world that feels increasingly loud, reactive, and brittle, choosing to spend a full day practicing repair is a countercultural act.

It says: I want to stay human.
It says: I want better tools.
It says: I don’t want to give up on relationship.

We’re about a week out now. The room is nearly full. And I can feel that familiar mix of gratitude and anticipation—the sense that something meaningful is about to happen because people said yes to showing up.

If you’ve been feeling tired of the noise.
If you’re hungry for depth instead of hot takes.
If you want to learn from wisdom that didn’t start on social media.
If you’re curious—not certain, just curious.
There may still be a seat for you.

Not because we need more bodies in a room.

But because these kinds of spaces only work when enough of us decide that repair—within ourselves, between one another, and across traditions—is worth our time.

I hope you’ll consider joining us.

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

When: Friday, March 6, 9 AM - 5 PM MT

Where: First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, 12 C St E, Salt Lake City, 84103

Check out the schedule, workshop descriptions and facilitators’ bios below!

FULL SCHEDULE: Friday March 6, 2026

8:30 AM – Arrive for check-in

• 9:00 AM – Opening remarks with Chad Ford & Patrick Mason

• 9:30–12:30 – Morning workshop of choice (three hours)

• 12:30–1:30 – Lunch* & Peacemaker Mingle

• 1:30–4:30 – Afternoon workshop of choice (three hours)

• 4:30–5:00 – Closing remarks with Ravi Gupta

*Lunch is included with ticket purchase.

Tickets cost $100 and are for full-day participation; event access includes one morning workshop, one afternoon workshop, and lunch.

Space is limited to just 250 tickets!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FEATURED WORKSHOPS

“Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World”

• Indigenous and faith based approaches to religious ecology with David Whippy
  Workshop Description: Environmental harm points to broken relationships—with the land, within and between communities, and with the sacred responsibility many of our faith traditions teach. In this interactive workshop, David will lead a discussion on Religious Ecology as a faith-related human practice of repair and reconciliation.

  Through reflection, small-group dialogue, and brief shared insights, you will explore how different faiths understand responsibility, stewardship, and care for the Earth. Together, we will listen across differences, hold space for accountability and hope, and consider how repairing the world includes healing our relationship with the living systems that sustain us.

NEARLY SOLD OUT! “Cultivating Inner Peace of Mind through the Compassionate Heart”

• Early Buddhist principles of peacemaking and mindfulness with Sam Akers
  Workshop Description: Sam will lead participants in heart forward mindfulness practices, small group dialogues and gentle movement all through the lens of the friendly, kind and compassionate heart of Metta. Metta, the Pali word for friendship or kindness, is for all beings, without exception, including ourselves. Here, you’ll explore how having an open heart naturally supports healing and inner peace.

NEARLY SOLD OUT “Kirtan Immersion: Peacemaking through Music and Mantra”

• Hindu ritual of inner and communal transformation through music & mantra with Ravi Gupta & family
  Workshop Description: Kirtan is an ancient practice from India that aligns our body and mind through music and mantra. Participants in this workshop will explore the power of devotional music to create pathways of peace within ourselves and in community with others. We will learn techniques of mantra meditation as we immerse ourselves in sacred sound. No prior experience with kirtan needed.

“Forgiveness: the Power and Freedom of Letting Go”

• Forgiveness perspectives from the Christian tradition with Reverend Jamie White, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City
  Workshop Description: Do you feel stuck by what’s happened to you? Or something you’ve done? Not sure how to let go of your bitterness? Tired of carrying around resentment? This workshop is designed to help us process our pain, release resentment, and move towards healing as we choose forgiveness. We’ll draw from both spiritual resources and therapeutic skills-based practices to offer a variety of tools to move beyond what’s happened to us and toward freedom. Bring your grudges!

NEARLY SOLD OUT! “When Faith Falls Apart: Moving through Doubt and Deconstruction to the Other Side”

• Faith de-/reconstruction with Reverend Jamie White and husband Dave White

  Workshop Description: Questioning and critiquing religious belief isn’t really a new idea, even if ‘deconstruction’ language has gone mainstream. People have—always and everywhere—doubted and questioned their religious traditions; a natural, healthy, and necessary factor in spiritual growth. But what happens when those questions threaten to unravel everything we used to hold sacred, including relationships with loved ones who may not understand? Even more there can be often an impulse to toss out all our beliefs, like ‘the baby with the bathwater’, in our attempt to live authentically and freely. But what happens after this messy and painful season, when we discover that we still hunger for God and may want to reevaluate a life of faith? Reverend Jamie White and her husband Dave will co-host this workshop that focuses on moving through deconstruction with grace for ourselves and those we love, offers resources and practices for spiritual healing, and explores what reconstruction might look like on the other side.

NEARLY SOLD OUT! “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: How Disagreement and Confrontation can be Holy Experiences”

• Jewish frameworks for sacred disagreement with Rabbi Sam Spector, Kol Ami
  Workshop Description: Rabbi Spector shares how confrontation and disagreements can lead to growth and understanding and create sacredness in your communities. We will see examples from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Talmud that show how we can hold strong differences in view and yet still maintain respect and understanding. Through finding dignity in differences, we can create communities and societies that are safe and thoughtful despite lacking consensus.

NEARLY SOLD OUT! “The Core Elements of Reconciliation Practice”

• Exploring the core elements of reconciliation with James Patton, Quaker Peacemaker
  Workshop Description: Whether between individuals or communities, reconciling a relationship damaged by harm is a challenge that often involves unpacking convoluted motives, perceptions of history, abiding pain, anger, and fear, and complex justifications for destructive behaviors. While each situation will be different, and deeply marked by individual experiences, some basic and principles apply across reconciliation efforts, such as addressing the past, confronting perceptions of the other, and seeking to transition beyond acts of harm—including the delicate nuances of dialogue, restitution, and pardon. This workshop explores the ideas and practices of reconciliation, with the objective of moving a broken relationship towards a less broken one.

NEARLY SOLD OUT! “Families Can Be Together Forever – But What About Today?”

• Navigating the paradoxes of committed relationships with Wendy Ulrich, PhD, MBA, author | Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  Workshop Description: The possibility of eternal marriage and family is a fundamental doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the prospect of an eternal relationship sounds like anything but heaven when we can hardly get through dinner together today. This workshop will explore the stages of long-term committed relationships—in families and even with God—then suggest tools for navigating relationship paradoxes that call for both individual flourishing and committed connection, both fixing problems and tolerating them, and both holding on and letting go. Bring your current relationship challenge or fear and let’s see if we can move the needle toward peace, hope, and flourishing—whether or not we believe in forever.

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

Our friends at Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) are hosting their 9th Annual Spring Conference on March 21, 2026 at Utah Valley University.

This year’s theme invites participants to reflect on a powerful truth: throughout our nation’s history, women have played a critical role in urging America to live up to its highest values and promises. That work is not finished.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, this conference asks:

• What does civic courage look like now?

• How do we meet the challenges of this moment with integrity and conviction?

• How can we imagine — and help build — a more just and hopeful future?

The gathering will bring together women committed to ethical leadership, constitutional principles, and thoughtful engagement in public life. Whether you’re deeply involved in civic work or simply feeling the pull to be more engaged, this event offers space for reflection, learning, and connection.

If you’re in or near Utah on March 21, we encourage you to learn more and consider attending.

Event details and registration HERE

At Waymakers, we believe repair matters not only in personal relationships, but in communities and civic culture as well. We’re always encouraged to see organizations creating spaces where principled dialogue and ethical commitment can grow.

If this resonates with you, we hope you’ll take a look.

REGISTER NOW

As a young woman, Rev. Jamie White would sit on her bed with clenched fists, repeating, “I will forgive. I will forgive” after suffering a sexual assault that left her pregnant.

Years later, when counseling parishioners through their own anger and grief, she reminds them that reconciliation does not come naturally over time. We have to make a deliberate choice. It may take years for that choice to do its work, but the feelings of forgiveness do eventually follow.

Life continues after tragedy, even after violent tragedy. The choice to forgive is a choice to re-enter life after being transformed by tragedy. A mentor once told Jamie: “You are going to have to figure out how to take that tragedy, that scar—that has to be your greatest treasure.”

Jamie is generously offering two workshops at our inaugural Interfaith REPAIR gathering of peacemakers at her church, First Presbyterian in SLC on March 6th.

“Forgiveness: the Power and Freedom of Letting Go”

Workshop Description: Do you feel stuck by what’s happened to you? Or something you’ve done? Not sure how to let go of your bitterness? Tired of carrying around resentment? This workshop is designed to help us process our pain, release resentment, and move towards healing as we choose forgiveness. We’ll draw from both spiritual resources and therapeutic skills-based practices to offer a variety of tools to move beyond what’s happened to us and toward freedom. Bring your grudges!

“When Faith Falls Apart: Moving through Doubt and Deconstruction to the Other Side”

Workshop Description: Questioning and critiquing religious belief isn’t really a new idea, even if ‘deconstruction’ language has gone mainstream. People have—always and everywhere—doubted and questioned their religious traditions; a natural, healthy, and necessary factor in spiritual growth. But what happens when those questions threaten to unravel everything we used to hold sacred, including relationships with loved ones who may not understand? Even more there can be often an impulse to toss out all our beliefs, like ‘the baby with the bathwater’, in our attempt to live authentically and freely. But what happens after this messy and painful season, when we discover that we still hunger for God and may want to reevaluate a life of faith? Reverend Jamie White and her husband Dave will co-host this workshop that focuses on moving through deconstruction with grace for ourselves and those we love, offers resources and practices for spiritual healing, and explores what reconstruction might look like on the other side.

We’d love for you to attend one, or both of her workshops, and start the process of forgiving yourself, others and if necessary, thinking about how to navigate your own spiritual journey in the wake of trauma.

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

I’ve had the honor of getting to know Pastor White over the past year and half. I’ve seen her work with parishioners and I have joked (not joking) that she’s my pastor.

Want a powerful preview of what three-hours with Pastor White might look like?

Jamie shares, powerfully, how Jesus’ example has guided her reconciliation process in my favorite Where Peace Begins videos. It’s totally worth the eight minutes of your time.

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

When: Friday, March 6, 9 AM - 5 PM MT

Where: First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, 12 C St E, Salt Lake City, 84103

Across the world’s faith traditions, faith leaders have long carried tools for peace. Sacred texts, rituals, histories, and lived practices offer pathways for repair—within ourselves, between communities, and across generations.

What: Interfaith REPAIR is a one-day gathering where participants from across faith traditions come together to explore how conflict is navigated and peace is practiced, taught, and embodied in different spiritual lineages, and how those tools can help us navigate conflict in an increasingly fractured world.

This is not a lecture-style conference. It’s an intimate, participatory, workshop-based day designed to help you engage deeply, learn across difference, and leave with tools you can use everyday in relationships at home, at work and in the world.

Who Interfaith REPAIR is for:

• Faith leaders and community organizers

• Educators and facilitators

• Activists seeking spiritual grounding

• Curious minds who love to learn about world religions, customs, traditions, and cultures. No religious affiliation required. Curiosity is enough.

We encourage you to try at least one workshop outside your own tradition and learn from a different faith community.

Check out the schedule, workshop descriptions and facilitators’ bios below!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FULL SCHEDULE: Friday March 6, 2026

8:30 AM – Arrive for check-in

• 9:00 AM – Opening remarks with Chad Ford & Patrick Mason

• 9:30–12:30 – Morning workshop of choice (three hours)

• 12:30–1:30 – Lunch* & Peacemaker Mingle

• 1:30–4:30 – Afternoon workshop of choice (three hours)

• 4:30–5:00 – Closing remarks with Ravi Gupta

*Lunch is included with ticket purchase.

Tickets cost $100 and are for full-day participation; event access includes one morning workshop, one afternoon workshop, and lunch.

Space is limited to just 200 tickets!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FEATURED WORKSHOPS

“Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World”

• Indigenous and faith based approaches to religious ecology with David Whippy
  Workshop Description: Environmental harm points to broken relationships—with the land, within and between communities, and with the sacred responsibility many of our faith traditions teach. In this interactive workshop, David will lead a discussion on Religious Ecology as a faith-related human practice of repair and reconciliation.

  Through reflection, small-group dialogue, and brief shared insights, you will explore how different faiths understand responsibility, stewardship, and care for the Earth. Together, we will listen across differences, hold space for accountability and hope, and consider how repairing the world includes healing our relationship with the living systems that sustain us.

“Cultivating Inner Peace of Mind through the Compassionate Heart”

• Early Buddhist principles of peacemaking and mindfulness with Sam Akers
  Workshop Description: Sam will lead participants in heart forward mindfulness practices, small group dialogues and gentle movement all through the lens of the friendly, kind and compassionate heart of Metta. Metta, the Pali word for friendship or kindness, is for all beings, without exception, including ourselves. Here, you’ll explore how having an open heart naturally supports healing and inner peace.

NEARLY SOLD OUT “Kirtan Immersion: Peacemaking through Music and Mantra”

• Hindu ritual of inner and communal transformation through music & mantra with Ravi Gupta & family
  Workshop Description: Kirtan is an ancient practice from India that aligns our body and mind through music and mantra. Participants in this workshop will explore the power of devotional music to create pathways of peace within ourselves and in community with others. We will learn techniques of mantra meditation as we immerse ourselves in sacred sound. No prior experience with kirtan needed.

“Forgiveness: the Power and Freedom of Letting Go”

• Forgiveness perspectives from the Christian tradition with Reverend Jamie White, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City
  Workshop Description: Do you feel stuck by what’s happened to you? Or something you’ve done? Not sure how to let go of your bitterness? Tired of carrying around resentment? This workshop is designed to help us process our pain, release resentment, and move towards healing as we choose forgiveness. We’ll draw from both spiritual resources and therapeutic skills-based practices to offer a variety of tools to move beyond what’s happened to us and toward freedom. Bring your grudges!

“When Faith Falls Apart: Moving through Doubt and Deconstruction to the Other Side”

• Faith de-/reconstruction with Reverend Jamie White and husband Dave White

  Workshop Description: Questioning and critiquing religious belief isn’t really a new idea, even if ‘deconstruction’ language has gone mainstream. People have—always and everywhere—doubted and questioned their religious traditions; a natural, healthy, and necessary factor in spiritual growth. But what happens when those questions threaten to unravel everything we used to hold sacred, including relationships with loved ones who may not understand? Even more there can be often an impulse to toss out all our beliefs, like ‘the baby with the bathwater’, in our attempt to live authentically and freely. But what happens after this messy and painful season, when we discover that we still hunger for God and may want to reevaluate a life of faith? Reverend Jamie White and her husband Dave will co-host this workshop that focuses on moving through deconstruction with grace for ourselves and those we love, offers resources and practices for spiritual healing, and explores what reconstruction might look like on the other side.

SOLD OUT! “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: How Disagreement and Confrontation can be Holy Experiences”

• Jewish frameworks for sacred disagreement with Rabbi Sam Spector, Kol Ami
  Workshop Description: Rabbi Spector shares how confrontation and disagreements can lead to growth and understanding and create sacredness in your communities. We will see examples from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Talmud that show how we can hold strong differences in view and yet still maintain respect and understanding. Through finding dignity in differences, we can create communities and societies that are safe and thoughtful despite lacking consensus.

NEARLY SOLD OUT! “The Core Elements of Reconciliation Practice”

• Exploring the core elements of reconciliation with James Patton, Quaker Peacemaker
  Workshop Description: Whether between individuals or communities, reconciling a relationship damaged by harm is a challenge that often involves unpacking convoluted motives, perceptions of history, abiding pain, anger, and fear, and complex justifications for destructive behaviors. While each situation will be different, and deeply marked by individual experiences, some basic and principles apply across reconciliation efforts, such as addressing the past, confronting perceptions of the other, and seeking to transition beyond acts of harm—including the delicate nuances of dialogue, restitution, and pardon. This workshop explores the ideas and practices of reconciliation, with the objective of moving a broken relationship towards a less broken one.

“Families Can Be Together Forever – But What About Today?”

• Navigating the paradoxes of committed relationships with Wendy Ulrich, PhD, MBA, author | Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  Workshop Description: The possibility of eternal marriage and family is a fundamental doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the prospect of an eternal relationship sounds like anything but heaven when we can hardly get through dinner together today. This workshop will explore the stages of long-term committed relationships—in families and even with God—then suggest tools for navigating relationship paradoxes that call for both individual flourishing and committed connection, both fixing problems and tolerating them, and both holding on and letting go. Bring your current relationship challenge or fear and let’s see if we can move the needle toward peace, hope, and flourishing—whether or not we believe in forever.

Interfaith REPAIR is just one month away! We’ve had an amazing response from so many of you. With Rabbi Spector’s workshop already selling out and several others close to selling out, we wanted to add one more workshop by popular demand: “Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World”!

Environmental harm points to broken relationships—with the land, within and between communities, and with the sacred responsibility many of our faith traditions teach. In this interactive workshop, David will lead a discussion on Religious Ecology as a faith-related human practice of repair and reconciliation.

Through reflection, small-group dialogue, and brief shared insights, you will explore how different faiths understand responsibility, stewardship, and care for the Earth. Together, we will listen across differences, hold space for accountability and hope, and consider how repairing the world includes healing our relationship with the living systems that sustain us.

All faith traditions, spiritual paths, and levels of belief are welcome.

Facilitator bio

David Whippy is an Associate Professor at BYU–Hawaiʻi and Director of the on-campus David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding. He also serves as a faculty advisor for BYU–Hawaiʻi’s Religious Freedom and Human Dignity initiatives. Across these roles, David emphasizes peacebuilding, religious ecology, and interfaith dialogue as essential practices of responsibility and repair.

As an educator and facilitator, David designs learning spaces that explore how lived experience, culture, and faith traditions shape our relationships—with one another, across communities, and with the Earth. He teaches courses including Peace Ecology, Intercultural Peacebuilding, and Peace Education, guiding students to connect spiritual traditions with contemporary environmental and social challenges.

David’s work is deeply informed by Indigenous Fijian dialogue practices such as talanoa and veivosaki-yaga, alongside moral imagination and practical pathways toward peace and reconciliation. Together with two of his students, he will facilitate an afternoon session titled “Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World,” exploring religious ecology through dialogue, reflection, and collaborative learning, and inviting participants to consider environmental stewardship as a shared, faith-rooted act of repair.

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

When: Friday, March 6, 9 AM - 5 PM MT

Where: First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, 12 C St E, Salt Lake City, 84103

Across the world’s faith traditions, faith leaders have long carried tools for peace. Sacred texts, rituals, histories, and lived practices offer pathways for repair—within ourselves, between communities, and across generations.

What: Interfaith REPAIR is a one-day gathering where participants from across faith traditions come together to explore how conflict is navigated and peace is practiced, taught, and embodied in different spiritual lineages, and how those tools can help us navigate conflict in an increasingly fractured world.

This is not a lecture-style conference. It’s an intimate, participatory, workshop-based day designed to help you engage deeply, learn across difference, and leave with tools you can use everyday in relationships at home, at work and in the world.

Who Interfaith REPAIR is for:

• Faith leaders and community organizers

• Educators and facilitators

• Activists seeking spiritual grounding

• Curious minds who love to learn about world religions, customs, traditions, and cultures. No religious affiliation required. Curiosity is enough.

We encourage you to try at least one workshop outside your own tradition and learn from a different faith community.

Check out the schedule, workshop descriptions and facilitators’ bios below!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FULL SCHEDULE: Friday March 6, 2026

8:30 AM – Arrive for check-in

• 9:00 AM – Opening remarks with Chad Ford & Patrick Mason

• 9:30–12:30 – Morning workshop of choice (three hours)

• 12:30–1:30 – Lunch* & Peacemaker Mingle

• 1:30–4:30 – Afternoon workshop of choice (three hours)

• 4:30–5:00 – Closing remarks with Ravi Gupta

*Lunch is included with ticket purchase.

Tickets cost $100 and are for full-day participation; event access includes one morning workshop, one afternoon workshop, and lunch.

Space is limited to just 200 tickets!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FEATURED WORKSHOPS

“Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World”

• Indigenous and faith based approaches to religious ecology with David Whippy
  Workshop Description: Environmental harm points to broken relationships—with the land, within and between communities, and with the sacred responsibility many of our faith traditions teach. In this interactive workshop, David will lead a discussion on Religious Ecology as a faith-related human practice of repair and reconciliation.

  Through reflection, small-group dialogue, and brief shared insights, you will explore how different faiths understand responsibility, stewardship, and care for the Earth. Together, we will listen across differences, hold space for accountability and hope, and consider how repairing the world includes healing our relationship with the living systems that sustain us.

“Cultivating Inner Peace of Mind through the Compassionate Heart”

• Early Buddhist principles of peacemaking and mindfulness with Sam Akers
  Workshop Description: Sam will lead participants in heart forward mindfulness practices, small group dialogues and gentle movement all through the lens of the friendly, kind and compassionate heart of Metta. Metta, the Pali word for friendship or kindness, is for all beings, without exception, including ourselves. Here, you’ll explore how having an open heart naturally supports healing and inner peace.

NEARLY SOLD OUT “Kirtan Immersion: Peacemaking through Music and Mantra”

• Hindu ritual of inner and communal transformation through music & mantra with Ravi Gupta & family
  Workshop Description: Kirtan is an ancient practice from India that aligns our body and mind through music and mantra. Participants in this workshop will explore the power of devotional music to create pathways of peace within ourselves and in community with others. We will learn techniques of mantra meditation as we immerse ourselves in sacred sound. No prior experience with kirtan needed.

“Forgiveness: the Power and Freedom of Letting Go”

• Forgiveness perspectives from the Christian tradition with Reverend Jamie White, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City
  Workshop Description: Do you feel stuck by what’s happened to you? Or something you’ve done? Not sure how to let go of your bitterness? Tired of carrying around resentment? This workshop is designed to help us process our pain, release resentment, and move towards healing as we choose forgiveness. We’ll draw from both spiritual resources and therapeutic skills-based practices to offer a variety of tools to move beyond what’s happened to us and toward freedom. Bring your grudges!

“When Faith Falls Apart: Moving through Doubt and Deconstruction to the Other Side”

• Faith de-/reconstruction with Reverend Jamie White and husband Dave White

  Workshop Description: Questioning and critiquing religious belief isn’t really a new idea, even if ‘deconstruction’ language has gone mainstream. People have—always and everywhere—doubted and questioned their religious traditions; a natural, healthy, and necessary factor in spiritual growth. But what happens when those questions threaten to unravel everything we used to hold sacred, including relationships with loved ones who may not understand? Even more there can be often an impulse to toss out all our beliefs, like ‘the baby with the bathwater’, in our attempt to live authentically and freely. But what happens after this messy and painful season, when we discover that we still hunger for God and may want to reevaluate a life of faith? Reverend Jamie White and her husband Dave will co-host this workshop that focuses on moving through deconstruction with grace for ourselves and those we love, offers resources and practices for spiritual healing, and explores what reconstruction might look like on the other side.

SOLD OUT! “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: How Disagreement and Confrontation can be Holy Experiences”

• Jewish frameworks for sacred disagreement with Rabbi Sam Spector, Kol Ami
  Workshop Description: Rabbi Spector shares how confrontation and disagreements can lead to growth and understanding and create sacredness in your communities. We will see examples from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Talmud that show how we can hold strong differences in view and yet still maintain respect and understanding. Through finding dignity in differences, we can create communities and societies that are safe and thoughtful despite lacking consensus.

NEARLY SELL OUT! “The Core Elements of Reconciliation Practice”

• Exploring the core elements of reconciliation with James Patton, Quaker Peacemaker
  Workshop Description: Whether between individuals or communities, reconciling a relationship damaged by harm is a challenge that often involves unpacking convoluted motives, perceptions of history, abiding pain, anger, and fear, and complex justifications for destructive behaviors. While each situation will be different, and deeply marked by individual experiences, some basic and principles apply across reconciliation efforts, such as addressing the past, confronting perceptions of the other, and seeking to transition beyond acts of harm—including the delicate nuances of dialogue, restitution, and pardon. This workshop explores the ideas and practices of reconciliation, with the objective of moving a broken relationship towards a less broken one.

“Families Can Be Together Forever – But What About Today?”

• Navigating the paradoxes of committed relationships with Wendy Ulrich, PhD, MBA, author | Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  Workshop Description: The possibility of eternal marriage and family is a fundamental doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the prospect of an eternal relationship sounds like anything but heaven when we can hardly get through dinner together today. This workshop will explore the stages of long-term committed relationships—in families and even with God—then suggest tools for navigating relationship paradoxes that call for both individual flourishing and committed connection, both fixing problems and tolerating them, and both holding on and letting go. Bring your current relationship challenge or fear and let’s see if we can move the needle toward peace, hope, and flourishing—whether or not we believe in forever.

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

That changed when I went on my LDS mission. I’m grateful it was a two year experience. For roughly the first year, I was very much a student of the “Ye are not sent forth to be taught, but to teach” school. By the time the second half of my mission rolled around, and it became painfully apparent that I would not in fact baptize the entirety of the Seattle metropolitan area, I got more curious. As it turned out, I liked talking about religion, and hearing what other people thought about it. A funny thing happened: when I opened my ears at least as much as my mouth, I learned a lot.

Since then, my life has taken me to some unexpected places. To the University of Notre Dame for graduate school, where I was surrounded by Catholic and evangelical professors and fellow students, and where my neighbor and good friend was the scion of generations of Jerusalem rabbis. To Egypt for my first real job as a professor, where my best students were veiled Muslim women. To Romania for a Fulbright fellowship, where I came to appreciate the ancient mysteries of Christian Orthodoxy. And to southern California, where the prevailing religion was secularism and one of my best friends was one of the nation’s most outspoken atheists.

I have certainly had tutors in peacemaking from my own church. Eugene England had a huge influence on me; President Russell M. Nelson helped anchor my convictions; and Chad Ford is my hero.

Yet I would be impoverished as an aspiring peacebuilder if my learning was restricted just to the little plot of the garden that I personally feel called to tend. My peacebuilding vocation has been radically transformed by a Black Protestant pastor; a Vietnamese Buddhist monk; a Mennonite Bible scholar; a Hindu sage; and many, many others.

That is why I am so excited for Interfaith REPAIR. We organized this day-long training not as an exercise in interfaith dialogue — though dialogue is important. Instead, we know that each of the world’s diverse faith traditions contains deep reservoirs of wisdom about how to build peace — in your soul, your personal relationships, your congregations, and your communities.

We have assembled an all-star list of religious practitioners and leaders to lead an amazing array of workshops. Crucially, we asked them not to give a “Hinduism 101” or “Islam 101” class — there are plenty of other places where you can learn that important basic information. Instead, we asked them to reach deep into their tradition and bring forward the distinctive teachings, rituals, and practices that enhance greater peace, and then teach those concepts in such a way that workshop participants who are not affiliated with that religion can learn and apply those teachings to be more effective peacebuilders in their distinctive spheres.

I will express one disappointment I have in the program we put together: I honestly want to take every single workshop, and will have to make some hard choices. I imagine that when you look at the menu of options you’ll feel the same way.

I often come back to the teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh: “If we are not peaceful, we cannot share peace.” I believe the practice of peace is downstream from learning about core principles of peace and developing the character of peace. If you want to find greater peace in your own life, and/or to share greater peace in the part of the garden you feel called to tend, Interfaith REPAIR is for you.

Bring a friend, and I’ll see you there!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

When: Friday, March 6, 9 AM - 5 PM MT

Where: First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, 12 C St E, Salt Lake City, 84103

Across the world’s faith traditions, faith leaders have long carried tools for peace. Sacred texts, rituals, histories, and lived practices offer pathways for repair—within ourselves, between communities, and across generations.

What: Interfaith REPAIR is a one-day gathering where participants from across faith traditions come together to explore how conflict is navigated and peace is practiced, taught, and embodied in different spiritual lineages, and how those tools can help us navigate conflict in an increasingly fractured world.

This is not a lecture-style conference. It’s an intimate, participatory, workshop-based day designed to help you engage deeply, learn across difference, and leave with tools you can use everyday in relationships at home, at work and in the world.

Who Interfaith REPAIR is for:

• Faith leaders and community organizers

• Educators and facilitators

• Activists seeking spiritual grounding

• Curious minds who love to learn about world religions, customs, traditions, and cultures. No religious affiliation required. Curiosity is enough.

We encourage you to try at least one workshop outside your own tradition and learn from a different faith community.

Check out the schedule, workshop descriptions and facilitators’ bios below!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FULL SCHEDULE: Friday March 6, 2026

8:30 AM – Arrive for check-in

• 9:00 AM – Opening remarks with Chad Ford & Patrick Mason

• 9:30–12:30 – Morning workshop of choice (three hours)

• 12:30–1:30 – Lunch* & Peacemaker Mingle

• 1:30–4:30 – Afternoon workshop of choice (three hours)

• 4:30–5:00 – Closing remarks with Ravi Gupta

*Lunch is included with ticket purchase.

Tickets cost $100 and are for full-day participation; event access includes one morning workshop, one afternoon workshop, and lunch.

Space is limited to just 200 tickets!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FEATURED WORKSHOPS

“Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World”

• Indigenous and faith based approaches to religious ecology with David Whippy
  Workshop Description: Environmental harm points to broken relationships—with the land, within and between communities, and with the sacred responsibility many of our faith traditions teach. In this interactive workshop, David will lead a discussion on Religious Ecology as a faith-related human practice of repair and reconciliation.
  

  Through reflection, small-group dialogue, and brief shared insights, you will explore how different faiths understand responsibility, stewardship, and care for the Earth. Together, we will listen across differences, hold space for accountability and hope, and consider how repairing the world includes healing our relationship with the living systems that sustain us.

“Cultivating Inner Peace of Mind through the Compassionate Heart”

• Early Buddhist principles of peacemaking and mindfulness with Sam Akers
  Workshop Description: Sam will lead participants in heart forward mindfulness practices, small group dialogues and gentle movement all through the lens of the friendly, kind and compassionate heart of Metta. Metta, the Pali word for friendship or kindness, is for all beings, without exception, including ourselves. Here, you’ll explore how having an open heart naturally supports healing and inner peace.

“Kirtan Immersion: Peacemaking through Music and Mantra”

• Hindu ritual of inner and communal transformation through music & mantra with Ravi Gupta & family
  Workshop Description: Kirtan is an ancient practice from India that aligns our body and mind through music and mantra. Participants in this workshop will explore the power of devotional music to create pathways of peace within ourselves and in community with others. We will learn techniques of mantra meditation as we immerse ourselves in sacred sound. No prior experience with kirtan needed.

“Forgiveness: the Power and Freedom of Letting Go”

• Forgiveness perspectives from the Christian tradition with Reverend Jamie White, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City
  Workshop Description: Do you feel stuck by what’s happened to you? Or something you’ve done? Not sure how to let go of your bitterness? Tired of carrying around resentment? This workshop is designed to help us process our pain, release resentment, and move towards healing as we choose forgiveness. We’ll draw from both spiritual resources and therapeutic skills-based practices to offer a variety of tools to move beyond what’s happened to us and toward freedom. Bring your grudges!

“When Faith Falls Apart: Moving through Doubt and Deconstruction to the Other Side”

• Faith de-/reconstruction with Reverend Jamie White and husband Dave White

  Workshop Description: Questioning and critiquing religious belief isn’t really a new idea, even if ‘deconstruction’ language has gone mainstream. People have—always and everywhere—doubted and questioned their religious traditions; a natural, healthy, and necessary factor in spiritual growth. But what happens when those questions threaten to unravel everything we used to hold sacred, including relationships with loved ones who may not understand? Even more there can be often an impulse to toss out all our beliefs, like ‘the baby with the bathwater’, in our attempt to live authentically and freely. But what happens after this messy and painful season, when we discover that we still hunger for God and may want to reevaluate a life of faith? Reverend Jamie White and her husband Dave will co-host this workshop that focuses on moving through deconstruction with grace for ourselves and those we love, offers resources and practices for spiritual healing, and explores what reconstruction might look like on the other side.

“Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: How Disagreement and Confrontation can be Holy Experiences”

• Jewish frameworks for sacred disagreement with Rabbi Sam Spector, Kol Ami
  Workshop Description: Rabbi Spector shares how confrontation and disagreements can lead to growth and understanding and create sacredness in your communities. We will see examples from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Talmud that show how we can hold strong differences in view and yet still maintain respect and understanding. Through finding dignity in differences, we can create communities and societies that are safe and thoughtful despite lacking consensus.

“The Core Elements of Reconciliation Practice”

• Exploring the core elements of reconciliation with James Patton, Quaker Peacemaker
  Workshop Description: Whether between individuals or communities, reconciling a relationship damaged by harm is a challenge that often involves unpacking convoluted motives, perceptions of history, abiding pain, anger, and fear, and complex justifications for destructive behaviors. While each situation will be different, and deeply marked by individual experiences, some basic and principles apply across reconciliation efforts, such as addressing the past, confronting perceptions of the other, and seeking to transition beyond acts of harm—including the delicate nuances of dialogue, restitution, and pardon. This workshop explores the ideas and practices of reconciliation, with the objective of moving a broken relationship towards a less broken one.

“Families Can Be Together Forever – But What About Today?”

• Navigating the paradoxes of committed relationships with Wendy Ulrich, PhD, MBA, author | Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  Workshop Description: The possibility of eternal marriage and family is a fundamental doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the prospect of an eternal relationship sounds like anything but heaven when we can hardly get through dinner together today. This workshop will explore the stages of long-term committed relationships—in families and even with God—then suggest tools for navigating relationship paradoxes that call for both individual flourishing and committed connection, both fixing problems and tolerating them, and both holding on and letting go. Bring your current relationship challenge or fear and let’s see if we can move the needle toward peace, hope, and flourishing—whether or not we believe in forever.

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

FACILITATOR BIOS

OPENING REMARKS:

CHAD FORD & PATRICK MASON

BIO: Chad Ford is an international conflict mediator, facilitator, and peace educator. While most people know him for his work at ESPN, being a basketball analyst and writer was actually his side-gig for most of the last two decades. Chad’s peacebuilding work is what defines him. Chad served as the Director of the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding at BYU-Hawaii. for nearly twenty years where he created a major and certificate program in intercultural peacebuilding. In 2024, Chad left his position at BYU-Hawaii to join the faculty at Utah State University. Chad is serving a joint appointment with the Religious Studies department and the Heravi Peace Institute.

His first book, Dangerous Love, weaves Chad’s experiences into a deeply personal step-by-step exploration of how we transform fear and conflict. His second book, 70x7, draws on Chad’s experiences as a Christian peacebuilder to show us how Jesus’s path of practicing 70×7 has the power to repair relationships by transforming destructive conflict into constructive peace. Chad has his own substack newsletter called the Waymaker if you want to follow his latest writing, podcasts and events.

BIO: Patrick Mason holds the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. He has written or edited several books, including Restoration: God’s Call to the 21st Century World; Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict and Planted. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Romania in 2015 and is a past president of the Mormon History Association. Patrick is frequently consulted by the national and international media on stories related to Mormon culture and history. He teaches courses on Mormonism, American religious history, and religion, violence, and peacebuilding.

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS:

David Whippy

BIO: David Whippy is an Associate Professor at BYU–Hawaiʻi and Director of the on-campus David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding. He also serves as a faculty advisor for BYU–Hawaiʻi’s Religious Freedom and Human Dignity initiatives. Across these roles, David emphasizes peacebuilding, religious ecology, and interfaith dialogue as essential practices of responsibility and repair.

As an educator and facilitator, David designs learning spaces that explore how lived experience, culture, and faith traditions shape our relationships—with one another, across communities, and with the Earth. He teaches courses including Peace Ecology, Intercultural Peacebuilding, and Peace Education, guiding students to connect spiritual traditions with contemporary environmental and social challenges.

David’s work is deeply informed by Indigenous Fijian dialogue practices such as talanoa and veivosaki-yaga, alongside moral imagination and practical pathways toward peace and reconciliation.

Together with two of his students, he will facilitate an afternoon session titled “Repairing Our Relationship with the Living World,” exploring religious ecology through dialogue, reflection, and collaborative learning, and inviting participants to consider environmental stewardship as a shared, faith-rooted act of repair.

Ravi M. Gupta

BIO: Dr. Ravi M. Gupta holds the Charles Redd Chair of Religious Studies and serves as Department Head of History at Utah State University. He has published numerous journal articles and five academic books, including most recently, Hinduism: the Primary Sources, co-authored with Dr. Jeffery Long and published by Oxford University Press. Ravi has received four teaching awards, a book award, a National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship, and two research fellowships at Oxford. He is a Permanent Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and a past president of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. He enjoys teaching World Religions, Hinduism, and Sanskrit at Utah State. Prior to arriving at USU, Ravi taught at the University of Florida, Centre College, and the College of William and Mary. He is regularly invited to speak to both academic and devotional audiences around the world on topics related to Hindu practice and philosophy. He lives in Logan with his wife, Amrita, and his sons, Chaitanya and Purushottam.

With his family, Ravi will facilitate two sessions of “Kirtan Immersion: Peacemaking through Music and Mantra” — Hindu ritual of inner and communal transformation through music & mantra as well as offer the event’s closing remarks.

Samantha (Sam) Akers

BIO: Samantha (Sam) Akers has been a yoga and meditation student and teacher for 30 years. She discovered the healing benefits of Buddhist meditation and yoga when she was diagnosed with several serious illnesses in her early 20’s. Her deepest healing began when she was taught Metta and how to work with chronic pain and fatigue, through mindful awareness. Over the years, Sam wanted to offer healing modalities to others and also became interested in meditation and early childhood attachment repair, studying with her teacher, George Haas for 10 years in this particular style of practice which uses traditional Buddhist practices in tandem with western psychology. Sam is a Certified Yoga Therapist, Faculty at Soma Yoga Institute, a Certified Mindfulness Teacher-Leader and a mentor through the Mindfulness Institute of Berkley, CA. She also built the first fully therapeutic yoga studio in Los Angeles and created her own method for practice, the TheraYoga Method, in 2012.

Sam’s heart home is in the Early Buddhist traditions and practices. She started SitBeLove in 2018 a platform for people to learn about secular and Buddhist mindfulness, loving kindness practices and ways to repair their relationships with themselves and others as a pathway to deep healing. She is currently the co-guiding teacher of Northern Utah Insight leading groups (sanghas) in Logan and Salt Lake City, a Buddhist Chaplain and Eco-Chaplain earning her certification through the Sati Center with her current teacher Gil Fronsdal. You can also study with Sam online through her many offerings.

Sam will facilitate two sessions of: “Cultivating Inner Peace of Mind through the Compassionate Heart” — Early Buddhist principles of peacemaking and mindfulness

Rabbi Samuel L. Spector

BIO: Rabbi Samuel L. Spector has been the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami since 2018. He was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He attended the University of California, San Diego, where he was an active brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. Rabbi Spector graduated with Cum Laude honors with a B.A. in Judaic Studies and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Masters in Hebrew Letters and Rabbinic Ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.

While in rabbinical school, Rabbi Spector served as the student rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Merced, California and as a member of the Chaplain Candidate Program for the United States Navy.

Prior to coming to Congregation Kol Ami, Rabbi Spector served as the Associate Rabbi of Temple Judea in Tarzana, California. He is currently a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and serves on the advisory board for the Salt Lake Chamber and the Christian Center of Park City.

He is an avid fan of baseball, Jewish history, and traveling, having been to over 70 countries. He is conversational in Hebrew and Spanish. In his free time, you can find Rabbi Spector playing with Nezek, his Brittany Spaniel, and Walter, his Chocolate Lab. Rabbi Spector is married to Jill, an Idaho native who works in hospitality. They are proud parents of their daughters—Miriam, Esti, and Noa—and their bonus daughter, Yasamin, a high school student from Afghanistan.

Rabbi Spector will facilitate one workshop in the morning, “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: How Disagreement and Confrontation can be Holy Experiences”—Jewish frameworks for sacred disagreement

Rev. Jamie White

BIO: Rev. Jamie White serves as the senior pastor of the historic First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City; prior to which she served congregations in California, Utah, and Pennsylvania. She received her theological education at Vanguard University, Fuller Seminary, and Princeton Seminary. Beyond her ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Jamie serves on several local non-profit boards, working alongside community partners to support mental health awareness, suicide prevention, and foster care; to resource those facing food, housing, and immigration crisis; and to foster interfaith dialogue. Jamie is also a founding board member of Kenya Partners Nakuru, a large non-profit working to break the cycle of poverty and disease for children in rural Kenya by providing healthcare, education, and community support. Jamie is married to Dave, a licensed clinical mental health therapist, and they have three children (Blake 26, Chase 22, Mila 12).

Jamie will facilitate two workshops: the first “Forgiveness: the Power and Freedom of Letting Go” Forgiveness from a Christian perspective, and the second will be facilitated with her therapist husband, Dave White: “When Faith Falls Apart: Moving through Doubt and Deconstruction to the Other side.”

Dave, who originally hails from Kansas City, works as a licensed mental health counselor, is a drummer and an avid outdoor enthusiast.

James Patton

BIO: James Patton is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Utah State University’s Heravi Peace Institute and a Founding Partner of the women-led consulting firm, Lead Integrity. He has conducted conflict transformation, reconciliation, and economic development for 25 years in 40 countries, including such programs as: training women Indigenous and Afro-descendent leaders on reconciliation to support reintegration of former combatants in Colombia; facilitating Cambodian Buddhists’ role in post-genocide social cohesion; developing frameworks and training religious actors in preventing violent extremism in Kenya, and; supporting the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education in designing and implementing tolerance reforms in education.

James’ non-profit experience includes serving as President and CEO of the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy and Deputy Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the American Friends Service Committee, and his governmental experience includes leading stability operations assessments for the U.S. Department of State in South Sudan and enhancing the Religion and Conflict portfolio for USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation.

James has served in various advisory roles, including on the U.S. Department of State’s Working Group on Religion and Foreign Policy, the United Nations Multi-Faith Advisory Council, and as the Religion and Conflict Co-Chair for the G20 Interfaith Forum. He is a Lifetime Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an Advisory Council Member for the Rumi Forum and the Center for Women, Faith, and Leadership. James has authored numerous policy and practitioner texts, including co-authoring the U.S. Institute of Peace publication, Religion and Conflict Guide Series: Religion and Reconciliation. James holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University and a Master of Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

James will facilitate two sessions of “The Core Elements of Reconciliation Practice” — Exploring the core elements of reconciliation

Dr. Wendy Ulrich

BIO: Wendy Ulrich, PhD, MBA, founder of Sixteen Stones Center for Growth, has been a licensed psychologist and management consultant for over thirty-five years. She is a former president of the Latter-day Saint Counseling and Psychotherapy Association, has been a visiting professor in both religion and psychology at Brigham Young University, and has served on the General Council of the Relief Society (worldwide women’s organization) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her books include Forgiving Ourselves, Weakness is not Sin, Let God Love You: Why We Don’t, How We Can, and best-selling The Why of Work: Creating Abundant Organizations that Win, co-authored with Dave Ulrich – her husband of fifty years … and counting!

Wendy will facilitate two sessions of “Families Can Be Together Forever – But What About Today?”

Have questions about Interfaith REPAIR? You can email us at: waymakersks@gmail.com!

Get Tickets to Interfaith REPAIR

“This is the work we’ve been waiting for.”

Since launching Waymakers as a pilot this summer, we’ve been deeply moved by how many people have engaged with this work—online, at our inaugural REPAIR event, and through our growing community. The idea that conflict can become a space for courage and connection is resonating widely. The need is real, and it’s growing.

As we look toward 2026, we’re excited to share what’s on our vision board:

Interfaith REPAIR - March 6, Salt Lake City (Note date change; tickets available Jan 2026)

A one-day gathering where participants from across faith traditions will explore how to build communities of peace and repair in an increasingly fractured world, together with:

• Dr. Ravi Gupta (Utah State University) - “How to Find Focus in an Age of Distraction using the Hindu Kirtan”

• Rabbi Samuel Spector (Congregation Kol Ami) - “How to Argue Like a Rabbi”

• Pastor Jamie White (First Presbyterian Church) - “A Jesus focused Response to Loneliness, Depression and Anxiety”

• More workshops to be announced from Buddhist, Catholic, and LDS faith leaders/peacemakers

REPAIR: D.C. Gathering - September, Washington D.C. (More info to come)

A gathering focused on bridging divides in our families, congregations, and communities, with a special emphasis on developing practical tools for navigating political polarization with integrity and courage. Patrick Mason and Judge Thomas Griffith (ret.) will keynote the event, and Chad Ford and other leading conflict resolution experts will run skills-building workshops.

Traveling REPAIR Workshops

In 2026, we hope to offer smaller, portable REPAIR workshops that can be hosted by communities across the continent (we hear you Canada!)—bringing skill-building and relational repair directly to congregations, campuses, workplaces, and civic groups.

Bridge Building across Faith Transitions and Differences

We intend to expand work around faith transitions, family strain, and shifting spiritual identities—an area where people consistently tell us they feel isolated, misunderstood, or unsure how to move forward. Our aim with this work is to help families and communities stay connected through these shifts by fostering empathy, deep listening, and compassionate dialogue.

These are the kinds of offerings your support makes possible: spaces where people learn to see each other, understand each other, and repair what is broken.

As we step into this next chapter, we’re asking our community to help sustain and grow this work. Our initial seed money has been used for our 2025 efforts and we are reaching out for our community to catalyze our work forward. If Waymakers has offered you insight, courage, or companionship in your own work of repair—or if you simply believe the world needs more people trained in peacemaking—we invite you to give generously.

Every gift, of any size, directly fuels this work.
Click here to contribute.

Your support doesn’t just sustain a program—it empowers a community and it builds a future where ordinary people have the tools to transform conflict into connection.

Thank you for standing with us in this work.

With gratitude,

The Waymakers Team
Chad Ford
Patrick Mason Katie Searle

Here’s what I saw, from behind-the-scenes..

Four months after fully kicking off our plans, it was time for REPAIR. Bright and early, the morning after the keynote, people started arriving for workshops (at 8 AM on a Friday!).

I could immediately feel a buzz of hope ripple through the lobby. Ahead of time, we’d asked participants to come with one conflict they wanted to work on in mind—something real, something they were hoping to repair. Our goal was to equip them with tools to build peace in their inner lives, their relationships, their families, congregations, communities, and beyond. And people came, notebooks in hand, leaning forward in that way people do when they’re really trying.

Over the next two days, what unfolded went far beyond “skills training.” Yes, we ran six 4-hour workshops at a time, twelve a day, twenty-four total. And yes, someone who stayed for the long haul could attend a max of 16 hours(!) in four workshops, yet somehow, we still averaged 3.37 workshop tickets per registrant. People were hungry. Many told us they wished the sessions were even longer. They wanted more time, more space, more breathing room. (We also heard loud and clear on the need for more stretch breaks!)

But what made this gathering remarkable was more than the logistics and even the expertise—it was the people. Folks came from every walk of life and shared stories, fears, griefs, and hopes they may never have spoken aloud before. They did it in spaces facilitated by some of the world’s best conflict-transformation leaders; but the courage in the room belonged to the participants themselves.

A total of 330 workshop participants showed the heck up, and of the 248 who completed a workshop review/self-assessment, when rating how confident they felt in their ability to approach conflict before workshop(s), they responded 2.64 on a 5-point scale. The average post-session rating was 4.07, a 54% increase in attendees’ perceived confidence and skill after only one session. 88% said the workshops were highly relevant to their personal or professional lives, and 99.6% said they learned something new or useful!

Beyond these hopeful numbers, participant responses capture the heart of the weekend:

“The best immersion experience I’ve ever had in my life.”

“The vulnerability and experiences of the facilitators were deeply moving and appreciated.”

I spent most of the conference zipping around addressing little event kinks, so I never actually sat in on a full workshop. But I got to absorb them through the comments people shared with me in breaks and afterward—raw, emotional, grateful accounts. And somehow, I also ended up helping facilitate one myself.

Public speaking is not in my comfort zone… give me planning, organizing, and behind-the-scenes chaos any day! But when Patrick and Chad asked if I would co-facilitate a workshop on navigating faith transitions with them, I gave myself a pep talk, and dug in. It felt important to offer multiple voices in what we knew would be a tender conversation.

Patrick led our session with history, data, and trends—helping people locate themselves or their loved ones along spectrums and pie charts (surprisingly moving for many!), and recounted the Prodigal Son through a new lens, offering a message of hope and reconnection. I then shared my own faith transition, as honestly as I could—its fragility, disorientation, the way it asked me to leave behind old versions of myself to find alignment within. I could sense the room soften with a shared understanding… the listening, the nods, the quiet exhale people make when realizing they’re not alone.

Chad offered a gift of vulnerability, sharing truly raw experiences that further broke open the space for people to share and witness one another, and then offered ways to walk with people at different points in their faith journeys (read his recounting of this session HERE).

It was simple and profound and reminded me that one of the most important things we can do is to just be with one another, fully, in life’s hardest and most ‘brutiful’ moments.

I am truly so appreciative— to the people who came, who shared their stories, and who trusted us enough to show up fully. I am grateful to the team and facilitators who created the conditions for this kind of openness, and to those who reminded me what it means to be human: fragile, brave, hurting, and hopeful all at once.

REPAIR is just the beginning of our bridge building. We left feeling inspired, humbled, and energized.

The Waymakers team is already looking ahead, exploring ways to make this work sustainable and accessible to even more people.

Thank you so much for being with us on this journey!

Katie

Twelve hours deep into facilitating workshops at REPAIR this weekend, I did something I haven’t done in a long time in a workshop.

I stopped being a teacher.

I was facilitating a workshop with Patrick Mason and Katie Searle on navigating faith transition. Patrick began the session brilliantly, explaining the data and helping the audience understand the trends and reasons behind faith transition. He ended with a beautiful re-telling of the Prodigal Son story.

Katie came up next. She spoke about her own faith transition in the most vulnerable way possible. She reminded us of both the fragility of change and the bravery it takes to find truth and belonging, especially when that means making choices that ask ourselves and others to leave behind old versions of ourselves. There were tears flowing as Katie, in her own graceful way, reminded us what it means to be human.

We took a break. I was up next. I had slides. I was ready to talk about “tools” on how we navigate faith transitions with partners, children, parents, and friends. I was going to tell a quick story about my first child and their faith transition from the perspective of a father and then dig into skills training.

None of what I prepared felt right.

I could sense the audience was hurting. I could see that the information and the story Katie told were reassuring and healing.

But there was still so much pain in the room. I could feel it.

And I no longer felt like teaching. I yearned to be with the people in the room — all of whom had shown up courageously for a weekend of training on how to repair their relationships. This may have been the most sensitive topic of the two-day event. Everyone, earlier in the workshop, had a chance to respond to some questions about why they were there.

They asked for hope. But hope planted in something real. Planted in the soil of pain.

I remembered Jim Ferrell’s keynote speech on his new book “You and We” that kicked off the conference.

Toward the end of the book Jim writes:

That two hours together had changed something inside of me. Being in that room, relating to Patrick, to Katie, to former students, current friends, and a lot of new faces … their hope, their pain, was actively transforming me.

When I teach, too often, I am a noun. I wanted to be a verb.

Jim ends the book with this quote from philosopher Martin Buber: “Many . . . acquire relations which they do not make real, that is, which they do not use to open themselves to another; they squander the most precious, irreplaceable, and irrecoverable material; they pass their life by.”

I did not want to squander this precious, irreplaceable moment.

So I put aside the teaching material for the day. I sat down. I told stories I had never told before about my pain, and hope, and grief and joy. And then I spent the next hour sitting next to and listening to those same stories from others in the room.

The emotion of it all was overwhelming. I put my arm around people. I held someone’s hand. I wiped tears from my eyes and felt my soul and the soul of others continue to transform.

This hotel conference room felt sacred to me — a temple to the least of these who are hurting and seeking repair.

Wrote one participant after the workshop:

“I’m still metabolizing this session - it was by far the most abundant, enlightening, complex, raw, painful, cathartic, and oddly hopeful session of the entire conference. The data surprised, unsettled, and comforted me. The deeply personal journeys changed me on a cellular level. And the transformation from grief to growth in an hour shocked me - this collective and individual journey from fear, pain, tension, exhaustion to possibility, clarity, hope, compassion, empowerment, action, and grace was one of the most intense inside-out transformation experiences of my life. [This is what] conflict transformation looks like and how we can literally sit with others in theirs.”

As I’ve pondered the experience the past few days, I’m reminded of the teachings of Confucius. His central teaching was “ren”—a term that appears more than one hundred times in his writings, the Analects. “This cardinal Confucian virtue,” writes Stephen Prothero in his book Religion Matters, “is usually translated as benevolence, but it is also rendered as humaneness, goodness, kindness, human-heartedness, humanity, altruism, and fellow-feeling.”

The Chinese character for ren is composed of two parts. On the left is the character representing a human being. On the right are two lines that represent the number two.

Someone who possesses the virtue of ren understands that human beings do not stand alone. Writes philosopher Herbert Fingarette, “For Confucius, unless there are at least two human beings, there can be no human being.”

In that moment, I don’t ever think I’ve understood ren, or the concepts Jim was teaching us in You and We more clearly. Together, we were more than the sum of our parts. To quote Jim, we were “compounding”.

“At this level, people open themselves to each other’s goals and realities, integrating them with their own. As a result, other people are no longer ‘over there’ — separate entities with whom we can cooperate across our divides—but are rather within us in meaningful ways.”

So, I want to thank all of the people who helped compounding happen at REPAIR.

Thank you to our sponsors Faith Matters, the One America Movement, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for believing in and supporting this work.

Thank you to our talented, creative, and passionate workshop presenters — Jim Ferrell, Patrick Mason, Katie Searle, Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, Desmond Lomax, LaShawn Williams, Thomas McConkie, Seamus Fitzgerald, Amanda Ford, Melissa Mason, David Pulsipher, Jen Thomas, Emma Addams, Nanette Antwi-Donkor, and Frederick Reeves — who put so much time and spirit into their workshops.

And, most importantly, thank you to the people who showed up this weekend looking for hope and the tools to get there. Something larger than the sum of our parts took hold. There was a spirit in the room that transcended the polarization and contempt of our time.

I walked away with ren in my veins, and four days later, it is still pumping in spirit and truth.

Do you feel frustrated or hopeless about a conflict in your life? With yourself? A spouse? A child? A community or congregation member? Or, in the larger political divide? Waymakers is here to help.

​Bring your toughest conflicts to REPAIR, where world-class peacemakers lead skills-based, intensive workshops to help you navigate even the most challenging situations in your life.

Our inaugural event is October 23rd-25th in Provo, Utah. We are almost sold out of tickets, however there are a few remaining tickets for the following workshops. If you’ve been on the fence about joining us, now is the time!

October 20th is the last day to buy tickets.

Tickets are $50 per workshop. Use code “REPAIRBUNDLE” to receive a 20% off discount of admission to two or more different workshops

Here’s what’s still available:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 - MORNING SESSION

8:30 am to 12:30 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

LASHAWN WILLIAMS: “Relational Stamina: Staying Present Across Difference”(3 seats left)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 - AFTERNOON SESSION

2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

AMANDA FORD: “Parenting from the Inside Out: Raising Teens with Presence and Peace” (5 seats available)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 - MORNING SESSION

8:30 am to 12:30 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

SEAMUS FITZGERALD: “Wayfinding on Waves of Peace” (3 seats available)

CHAD FORD: “70x7: Navigating Conflict Jesus’s Way” (6 seats available)

THE ONE AMERICA MOVEMENT: “The Roots of Polarization” (8 seats available)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 - AFTERNOON SESSION

2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

AMANDA FORD & MELISSA MASON: “Peacemaking from the Inside Out: The Inner Work of Repair” (6 seats available)

DESMOND LOMAX: “Getting Ready: How to Engage Conflict within Yourself with Purpose & Authenticity” (3 seats available)

CLAIR CANFIELD: “Acquainted with Grief: Finding our Way Back to Wholeness” (4 seats available)

LASHAWN WILLIAMS: “Relational Stamina: Staying Present Across Difference”(7 seats available)

CHAD FORD, PATRICK MASON & KATIE SEARLE: “Preserving Love in Faith Transitions” (8 seats available)

JENNIFER THOMAS & EMMA ADDAMS: “Repair in Polarized Times” (8 seats available)

Get tickets to REPAIR

For this three part bonus mini-series of Proclaim Peace, hosts Jennifer Thomas and Patrick Mason are joined by Nealin Parker from Common Ground to reflect on recent tragic events affecting the Latter-day Saint community, including the death of President Nelson and a horrific attack on a local ward that resulted in multiple fatalities.

As they process these heavy developments, they discuss the emotional toll on church members and the broader implications for peace. The episode serves as a heartfelt exploration of grief, community resilience, and the principles of the gospel that can guide us in difficult times.

Watch on YouTube here:

Listen on Spotify:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

REPAIR is just a few weeks away!

We are almost sold out of tickets, however there are a few remaining tickets for the following workshops. If you’ve been on the fence about joining us, now is the time!

Tickets are $50 per workshop. Use code “REPAIRBUNDLE” to receive a 20% off discount of admission to two or more different workshops

Here’s what’s available:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 - MORNING SESSION

8:30 am to 12:30 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

LASHAWN WILLIAMS: “Relational Stamina: Staying Present Across Difference”(3 seats left)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 - AFTERNOON SESSION

2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

AMANDA FORD: “Parenting from the Inside Out: Raising Teens with Presence and Peace” (5 seats available)

JENNIFER THOMAS & EMMA ADDAMS: “Repair in Polarized Times” (3 seats available)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 - MORNING SESSION

8:30 am to 12:30 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

SEAMUS FITZGERALD: “Wayfinding on Waves of Peace” (4 seats available)

CHAD FORD: “70x7: Navigating Conflict Jesus’s Way” (7 seats available)

THE ONE AMERICA MOVEMENT: “The Roots of Polarization” (10 seats available)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 - AFTERNOON SESSION

2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 101 W, 100 N, Provo, Utah

AMANDA FORD & MELISSA MASON: “Peacemaking from the Inside Out: The Inner Work of Repair” (8 seats available)

DESMOND LOMAX: “Getting Ready: How to Engage Conflict within Yourself with Purpose & Authenticity” (3 seats available)

CLAIR CANFIELD: “Acquainted with Grief: Finding our Way Back to Wholeness” (5 seats available)

LASHAWN WILLIAMS: “Relational Stamina: Staying Present Across Difference”(8 seats available)

CHAD FORD, PATRICK MASON & KATIE SEARLE: “Preserving Love in Faith Transitions” (10 seats available)

JENNIFER THOMAS & EMMA ADDAMS: “Repair in Polarized Times”(80 seats available) (8 seats available)

Get tickets to REPAIR

We often think of peace as something that happens out there — in our families, communities, or the wider world. We imagine it as a state we arrive at once conflict has been resolved, once everyone agrees, once the dust settles. But most lasting repair begins somewhere quieter and closer: within ourselves.

When we feel tension, anger, fear, or shame, those emotions don’t just affect our own inner landscape — they ripple outward. The way we relate to our own pain shapes the way we relate to others. When we meet our internal conflict with curiosity instead of judgment, gentleness instead of avoidance, we start to open space for genuine peace to take root.

When we learn to meet our own discomfort with gentleness, we create the capacity to meet others’ discomfort with the same compassion. When we make peace with our own contradictions, we become less reactive and more open to the complexity of others.

Melissa Mason, CSW, is a clinical social worker and therapist who integrates mindfulness, relational therapy, and evidence-based approaches to support individuals and couples. She specializes in navigating issues around sex, desire, trust, and emotional regulation. Known for her warm, grounded presence, Melissa creates a safe space for clients to explore their stories, reclaim vitality, and cultivate peace from within.

Amanda Ford, LCSW, is a clinical social worker, therapist, educator, and yoga teacher. She specializes in mindfulness-based therapy and relational healing, working with individuals, families, and students to foster emotional resilience, spiritual integration, and compassionate connection. Amanda also teaches social work and peace studies at Utah State University, where she helps future practitioners explore how personal awareness and community care intersect.

Together, Melissa and Amanda bring a rare blend of professional expertise and deep humanity to this work — bridging the disciplines of therapy, mindfulness, and peacemaking with compassion and care.

At REPAIR, Melissa and Amanda will lead an experiential workshop, Peacemaking from the Inside Out: The Inner Work of Repair, designed for those seeking peace, tools, and a renewed capacity to live and love with clarity.

Peacemaking from the Inside Out: The Inner Work of Repair

Saturday, October 25, 8:30am-12:30pm (sold out) & 2:00pm-6:00pm

Description: This workshop will help you navigate the inner conflict that drives external struggles, and offers practical tools for cultivating peace within yourself and relationships. Through interactive exercises using mindfulness, movement, and creative expression, you will be guided toward healing and resolution. Come as you are and leave with tools, insights, and a deeper sense of peace.

Through mindfulness, movement (i.e. gentle yoga), and creative expression, Amanda and Melissa will guide attendees toward:

• Tools that foster clarity, emotional regulation, and compassionate connection

• Tending inner wounds

• Deeper sense of calm & understanding

• Healing and resolution

Melissa and Amanda emphasize that peacemaking is not the same as appeasement. It’s not bypassing discomfort or pretending everything is okay. True peacemaking begins with honesty — noticing where we are out of alignment, where judgment lingers, where pain still speaks.

Get tickets to REPAIR

Repair is not about perfection — it’s about practice. It’s the ongoing process of tending to what’s hurt or fragmented within us, so we can show up more whole for others. By slowing down and listening inwardly, we start to transform how we engage outwardly.

In a world saturated with noise and urgency, peace can feel like a luxury. But it’s actually a form of strength — a discipline that starts with how we tend to our own inner world.

Join Melissa & Amanda to do this inner work, Saturday, October 25 8:30am (sold out) or 2:00pm at REPAIR.

Can’t wait to see you in October!

On Thursday, September 18th, just a week after the Charlie Kirk assassination at Utah Valley University, Waymaker’s Chad Ford joined Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG)’s co-founder Jen Thomas to talk about how to practice peacemaking in the wake of so much fear and violence.

Here’s a clip from the podcast:

You can watch the FULL live conversation here (via YouTube).

You can also listen via your favorite podcasting platform. Here are links to Spotify and Apple Podcasts below:

If you like what you listened to consider joining Jen Thomas and her co-director, Emma Addams at their REPAIR workshops on October 24th and 25th.

JENNIFER THOMAS & EMMA ADDAMS: “Repair in Polarized Times”
FRIDAY, OCT 25 & SATURDAY, OCT 26 8:30 am

Workshop Description: Are political tensions wearing you down? Ready to rediscover civility, empathy, and constructive dialogue? Join the Co-Executive Directors of Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG)—a nonpartisan, faith-rooted community devoted to peacemaking and ethical civic engagement—in this interactive workshop, where you’ll gain practical tools for de-escalating conflict, cultivating respectful conversation across differences, and engaging in dialogue that heals rather than divides. Whether you’re navigating conversations online, at the dinner table, or in your local community, you’ll leave equipped with skills to pursue peace and ethical action—even when it feels difficult.

Get tickets to REPAIR

Russell M Nelson, the 17th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away at the age of 101 on Saturday night.

President Nelson’s life and teachings, especially around peacemaking, deeply impacted both of our lives. In fact, it may be fair to say that neither of us would be doing what we are doing — working as peace educators at the Heravi Peace Institute, serving as peacemakers on the ground in conflicts around the world, and starting Waymakers together as a way of training others how to be better peacebuilders — without the influence of President Nelson.

While we mourn his loss, we rejoice in his witness of Jesus and in the way he inspired us, and so many others, to take up Jesus’s call to be peacemakers in the world.

We pray that with his passing, his message will be amplified, and that millions of others will look to Jesus, as he did, to find inspiration, hope, and courage to love our enemies, to reconcile with our brothers and sisters, and to “build bridges of understanding rather than walls of prejudice—especially with those who may see the world differently than we do.”

Both of us wanted to take this moment to reflect personally on President Nelson’s impact on us. We hope that you’ll consider sharing, in the comments below, how his life and teachings impacted you as well.

“The World Needs More Peacemakers”

by Chad Ford

I met Russell M. Nelson for the first time in early 2007, as a young professor at BYU-Hawaii (BYUH). For the past few years, I had been trying to get an Intercultural Peacebuilding program off the ground at BYUH and was struggling.

Despite President David O. McKay’s founding prophecy that “From this place would go men and women whose influence would be felt for good towards the establishment of peace internationally” and a small endowment set up by generous donors to create the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding, I was struggling to convince the faculty that an academic program should be the bedrock of our efforts.

I believed it wasn’t going to be enough for students to hear inspiring talks about peacemaking and to take an occasional workshop. Peacemaking is more than just a way of being; it is a skill, and if our students were going to be the type of people President McKay envisioned, they would need intensive, academic, and skills-based training.

Then Elder Nelson had been an inspiration from the start. In the October 2002 General Conference, he gave a remarkable conference address entitled “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” that had laid the seeds for me coming to BYU-H.

In that talk he declared:

I felt a fire inside when he spoke those words. I had been studying peacebuilding for the last decade, but had done so largely separate from my LDS faith. While there were plenty of Christian peacebuilding examples like the Mennonites, Quakers, Dr. Martin Luther King, Howard Thurman, John Paul Lederach, Dorothy Day, and others to draw inspiration from, I struggled to find the same examples and teaching from my own faith.

The lack of focus on Jesus’s call to peacemaking troubled me, and there were times when I questioned whether I belonged to the right tradition. Elder Nelson’s call, especially his focus on peacemaking that transcended inner peace, was all I needed.

He reminded me:

Three years later, I would accept a position to be the first Director of the McKay Center at BYUH with a goal of putting those ideas into practice.

Yet, many of my colleagues weren’t convinced that peacemaking was a proper academic pursuit. Multiple requests to create courses in peacemaking were rejected, and I was growing frustrated.

Eric Shumway, the President of BYUH, was a believer, however. He was one of the original faculty members of BYUH and had met President McKay. He believed BYUH’s destiny was to produce peacemakers. So he arranged for me to meet with Elder Nelson and Elder M. Russell Ballard— who sat on our board at BYUH.

“Convince them,” he told me, “ and you’ll have your program.”

I was terrified. I had never met an apostle before. I had 15 minutes. I paced the town of Laie the night before at 3 a.m., rehearsing what to say and how to say it. To me, my entire career, both as an educator and a church member, pivoted on the moment.

I don’t actually remember much of what I said.

What I do remember is what happened after I completed my short presentation.

There was a long pause (it was probably 15 seconds, but felt like 15 minutes) before Elder Nelson rose, smiled, and simply said, “The world needs more peacemakers … we should approve this program.”

Elder Ballard and the rest of the board concurred, and then I was ushered out of the room. I sat in the hallway, weeping. My body was filled with the same fire that I had felt when I heard Elder Nelson’s talk. Then suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up; it was Elder Nelson. He pulled me aside, gave me counsel about how to move the work forward, and told me that I would face a lot of opposition. Then he gave me his phone number and told me to call him if I ever thought about giving up.

Then he reiterated, “The world needs more peacemakers. Go find them. Go teach them. But most importantly, go love them.”

I never called him, even when my mind was filled with doubts about my own inadequacy to lead the program. I wish I would have. I wish I would have told him what his words had meant to me. I wish I would have reported back, directly, the fruits of his decision.

I wish he could have seen the thousands of young women and men, from over 100 countries around the world, who were able to reconcile with a family member or friend, find ways to love their enemies and the people who hurt them, heal from the wounds of conflict, and the hundreds who would train to be mediators, therapists, social workers, diplomats, church leaders, and peacemakers in their homes, communities, and in the world.

In 2023, a little over 20 years after his first conference address on peacemaking, now President Nelson, would stand at the pulpit and deliver an even more powerful and direct call to our people to become peacemakers.

After his talk, I went to a quiet place and wept again. Now, a person I believe to be God’s prophet on Earth, was calling us all to this unique form of discipleship. He was reminding us that we show our love for God by showing our love for neighbor and enemy. He was calling us, the same way Jesus called his disciples on the Sermon on the Mount, to be peacemakers.

He would reiterate that call in 2025:

And again, just a few weeks ago in an essay for his 101 birthday in Time Magazine:

Those words were not merely words to President Nelson. He lived them in his relationships with others. He reached out and made allies with many important non-LDS organizations and created a legacy of peace in his actions.

He inspired so many to take up his mantle and create peacemaking organizations and encouraged us in our personal lives to put an end to enmity.

When I was invited to join the faculty at Utah State University and the Heravi Peace Institute in 2024, I had a deep fear that I would be leaving behind students, a peacebuilding program, and a legacy created by President Nelson that I loved and had dedicated 20 years of my life to.

I kept feeling a deep, spiritual pull to go, but wrestled daily with the ramifications of that decision for my family, the peacebuilding program at BYUH, and for President Nelson.

I still had his number. I thought about calling so many times. I felt he’d tell me to follow the spirit, and that was what I was afraid of. What I wanted was for him to tell me to stay where it was safe, comfortable, and to not push me further away from my home to an area of the world that I had never lived.

In the throes of making that decision, I got a phone call from someone in the Church. He had heard that I might be coming to Utah. I told him I was wrestling terribly with the decision and subtly insinuated that maybe he could reach out to President Nelson on my behalf to help me know what to do.

“What is God calling you to?” he replied. “I think he’s calling me to Utah,” I replied.

“Then you already know what to do,” he replied. “And just in case you didn’t, why do you think I called?”

So, I packed up my family, left behind my amazing students and colleagues at BYUH and moved here. Within days I started partnering with Patrick Mason and so many wonderful people at USU, Faith Matters, Disagree Better, the Salt Lake Interfaith Council, at the Utah Council of Conflict Resolution, at TurnTowardUs, to keep his vision alive here —in this place —where the Saints once sought refuge from conflict, that now, more than ever, needs to be a light on the hill for the rest of the world.

And so for all that loved President Nelson, and for all of those who want to find ways to put his call into action, will you join us?

The world needs more peacemakers.

True Disciples of Jesus Christ Are Peacemakers

by Patrick Mason

“The Savior’s message is clear: His true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire—no matter how difficult the situation. True disciples of Jesus Christ are peacemakers.”

My heart sang when President Russell M. Nelson spoke these words in the April 2023 General Conference. I don’t think it was just confirmation bias. More than that, it was because in the deepest part of my soul I knew his words were true. And furthermore, that they were prophetic for a world on the brink.

Most General Conference talks are forgotten within days, weeks, or months of when they are given. By the time the next Conference rolls around six months later, it’s as if the prior one hardly happened. That’s a feature of a church that believes in continuing revelation.

I’m convinced, however, that of all President Nelson’s dozens of Conference talks, “Peacemakers Needed” will still be read a hundred years from now. Why? Because it articulates Jesus’s never-ending call for His followers to be peacemakers as well or better than any other talk given by a church president. For countless years to come, when Latter-day Saints study about how the Lord wants us to respond to conflict, we will turn to the scriptures, and we will turn to President Nelson’s talk.

Prophets speak the truths we need to hear, not always what we want to hear. President Nelson spoke to a world rife with conflict of all kinds, from internal stresses and anxieties to broken marriages to communities and congregations divided over politics to nations at war. Members of the church are not immune to any of those conflicts. One of the most memorable moments in his address came when President Nelson said:

The words of prophets apply to nations, but fundamentally they cut to the core for each individual listener. Yes, we need an end of hostilities in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan; as President Nelson said in April 2022, “Any war is a horrifying violation of everything the Lord Jesus Christ stands for and teaches.” But true peace does not begin with ceasefires on the battlefield. It begins with a transformation of the heart.

In his last words to the world, published in Time magazine, he said: “After more than a century of life and decades of studying both the human body and the human soul, I have found this to be true: we are happiest when we remember our divine worth and extend that recognition to others.”

Rest in Christ, President Nelson. You’ve run your race well and set an exemplary pace for us to follow. Now it’s our turn to take the baton.

Faith transitions can be some of the most tender and challenging moments in a family’s life. They are rarely just intellectual decisions—they carry with them layers of emotion, identity, community, and belonging. When someone we love begins to question or leave behind deeply held beliefs, it can feel like the ground shifts beneath our feet. For some, it brings grief, even fear of losing not only faith but also family bonds. For others, it brings freedom, authenticity, and hope.

What makes these moments especially complex is that they affect more than the individual—they ripple outward into marriages, parent-child relationships, extended families, and faith communities. Too often, those ripples turn into waves of misunderstanding, distance, or even estrangement.

And yet—there is another way. Faith transitions don’t have to mean fractured families. They can, with care and intention, become opportunities for deeper love and connection. They can teach us how to honor differences while holding fast to what matters most. They teach us how to do conflict better and how to share contested ground.

That’s what this workshop is about. Whether you are navigating your own transition or walking alongside someone in theirs, this space is designed to help you:

• Understand what faith transitions are and why they happen.

• Explore the grief, loss, and new growth they bring.

• Learn skills for listening, nurturing relationship and community, and creating psychological safety in relationships.

• Discover practical ways to preserve what matters most—love.

Guided by facilitators who have lived on all sides of the experience—as scholars, as parents, and as those who have walked their own transitions—we’ll share stories, tools, and practices that transform conflict into connection.

Where You Can Join Us

Restore Conference — Friday, September 26

Time: 1:30–2:15 pm
Location: Sorenson Center, Ragan Theater, Utah Valley University

Chad Ford and Patrick Mason will share a short 45-minute presentation on the challenges and opportunities of faith transitions, with an emphasis on some practical skills on how families can stay rooted in love.

To get 50% off tickets to Restore, use the code: Scholarship-50

Get tickets to Restore

Full Workshop at REPAIR — Saturday, October 25

Time: 2:00–6:00 pm
Location: Provo Marriott & Conference Center

This four-hour workshop led by Patrick Mason, Chad Ford and Katie Searle combines research, scripture, lived experience, and hands-on practice.

Get tickets to REPAIR

Workshop Flow

1. Welcome & Framing the Space

• Creating a safe, respectful environment.

• Introducing the theme of belonging: Is belonging experienced differently inside vs. outside faith communities? How can it be cultivated across difference?

2. Understanding Faith Transitions: Research & Realities

• Exploring research, scripture, and personal stories of transition.

• Small group reflection.

3. Family Dynamics & Connection Across Difference

• Common responses in families: fear, grief, support, estrangement.

• Exploring times when love felt conditional on belief vs. when it transcended belief.

• Exercises that help teach us how to have supportive vs. defensive family conversations.

4. Skills & Tools for Staying Connected

• Practical tools: active listening, validation without agreement, asking connecting questions, pausing before reacting, naming shared values.

• Role Play practice in triads.

• Emphasis on creating environments of trust and openness.

5. Holding Space & Honoring Each Path

• Reflection on grief and loss in faith transition—lost community, rituals, or certainty—and also the potential for new values and growth.

• Writing a personal “love-first” commitment statement.

• Pair sharing.

6. Integration & Closing

• Sharing key takeaways and commitments.

• Offering resources for continued support.

  Get tickets to REPAIR

What You’ll Leave With

• Practical skills for navigating faith transitions with compassion.

• A renewed sense of belonging that doesn’t depend on agreement.

• A love-first commitment to strengthen family relationships.

• Hope that connection can endure even through difference.
  

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Who We Are

CHAD FORD is an international conflict mediator, facilitator, and peace educator.

While most people know him for his work at ESPN, being a basketball analyst and writer was actually his side-gig for most of the last two decades. Chad’s peacebuilding work is what defines him.

Chad served as the Director of the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding at BYU-Hawaii. for nearly twenty years where he created a major and certificate program in intercultural peacebuilding.

In 2024, Chad left his position at BYU-Hawaii to join the faculty at Utah State University. Chad is serving a joint appointment with the Religious Studies department and the Heravi Peace Institute. Chad teaches courses in Religion, Violence and Peace; Bridging Religious Differences; Introduction to Peacebuilding; and Transformative Mediation.

Chad’s work has frequently taken him out of the classroom and into conflict zones around the world — The Middle East, Ireland, Cyprus, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Oceania, China and throughout the United States — as both a mediator and a facilitator. Chad has served as a speaker and conflict facilitator for numerous organizations — working with governments, NGOs and corporations like Nike and the US Olympic team. He’s been able to combine his expertise on both sports and conflict by serving as an executive board member of the non-profit peacebuilding organization PeacePlayers.

His first book, Dangerous Love, weaves Chad’s experiences into a deeply personal step-by-step exploration of how we transform fear and conflict. His second book, 70x7, draws on Chad’s experiences as a Christian peacebuilder to show us how Jesus’s path of practicing 70×7 has the power to repair relationships by transforming destructive conflict into constructive peace.

Chad has his own substack newsletter called the Waymaker (which is different from this newsletter) if you want to follow his latest writing, podcasts and events.

PATRICK Q. MASON is a devout Christian peacemaker who combines intimate knowledge of Christian theology and history with the practical skills of a peacemaker.

Patrick holds the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. He has written or edited several books, including Restoration: God’s Call to the 21st Century World; Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict and Planted.

He was a Fulbright Scholar in Romania in 2015 and is a past president of the Mormon History Association. Patrick is frequently consulted by the national and international media on stories related to Mormon culture and history. He teaches courses on Mormonism, American religious history, and religion, violence, and peacebuilding.

KATIE SEARLE has deep experience in branding, publishing, event planning, and grant writing. But it is her beautiful soul and peacemaking that drives her.

After graduating with a degree in Intercultural Peacebuilding from BYU-Hawaii, Katie leapt into the world of publishing, co-founding Kinfolk Magazine in 2010. The magazine and its family of publications (The Kinfolk Table and The Kinfolk Home) became one of the most influential lifestyle titles in print and media within a few short years. In 2013, Katie co-founded Ouur Media, a lifestyle publisher and agency creating print and digital media for young creatives.

As Katie’s professional career in media evolved, she kept her finger on the pulse of some of her first loves—human rights, conflict resolution and peace building. She became a certified mediator, philanthropic consultant and grant writer, working on behalf of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, families experiencing homelessness, youth aging out of foster care, and adults with developmental disabilities.

Parenting teenagers takes us into one of the deepest kinds of conflict—the sacred conflict that lives within families.

The teen years often bring big emotions, growing independence, and inevitable tension. Yet they also hold profound opportunities for growth, trust, and deeper connection.

Amanda Ford, LCSW, is a clinical social worker, therapist, educator, and yoga teacher whose work blends mindfulness, relational healing, and family systems wisdom. With years of experience guiding individuals, families, and students toward resilience and compassionate connection, Amanda brings both expertise and empathy to her teaching. She currently teaches social work and peace studies at Utah State University, where she helps the next generation of caregivers and changemakers learn how to lead with presence.

At REPAIR, Amanda will lead an empowering workshop, Parenting from the Inside Out: Raising Teens with Presence and Peace, designed for parents navigating the challenges of adolescence.

Parenting from the Inside Out: Raising Teens with Presence and Peace

Friday, October 24, 2:00pm-6:00pm

Description: Parenting teenagers takes us to the heart of sacred conflict. In this restorative and empowering workshop, parents will explore their own parenting patterns, learn to stay grounded during moments of conflict, and strengthen emotional connection with their teens. Through personal reflection, gentle movement, family systems exploration, and experiential activities, you will discover tools for parenting with more clarity, less reactivity, and a stronger sense of connection.

Through personal reflection, gentle movement, and experiential activities, participants will:

• Explore their own parenting patterns

• Practice grounding themselves in moments of conflict

• Strengthen emotional connection with their teens

• Discover tools for parenting with greater clarity and less reactivity

Amanda will lead group explorations on how to stay calm in the storm, lead with love, and raise teens with both presence and peace. You will undoubtedly walk away from Amanda’s workshop feeling supported, seen, and more confident in your parenting journey.

Get tickets to REPAIR

Whether you are in the thick of raising teenagers, or preparing for the journey ahead, this workshop will give you practices and perspectives to parent not from fear, but from peace.

Join Amanda, Friday, October 25 at 2:00 pm at REPAIR.

Can’t wait to see you in October!

In the wake of Wednesday’s tragic events at Utah Valley University, as well as the rise of political violence around the world, this live Proclaim Peace podcast with Waymakers’ Chad Ford and MWEG’s Jennifer Thomas on September 18th at 7 pm at UVU’s Fulton Library, which was scheduled a few months ago, takes on an even more urgent call.

How do we follow Jesus’s call to peacemakers in the such a violent, dangerous world?

We know many of you may be reticent to attend in person given what happened at UVU last week, so there is the ability to join the conversation online here.

Come in person or watch from your home, either way, RSVP here!